I’ve also gotten pretty good with eyeliner, but it’s mostly the hormones.

(This feels a bit weird to talk about, but if I was reading this blog, I would want me to talk about it. Plus, I already posted all of this on social media, so it’s not like this is secret info, or anything.)

Three months on hormones and the results have been absolutely magical. I’ve got noticeable breasts, heavier thighs, smoother skin and my body hair growth has slowed. There’s been some subtle changes to my face, where what few edges I had in my round face have been softened to match the rest of it. Also, my nose has shrunk.

All the cartilage in my body has shrunk. My feet are a size and half smaller than they used to be, and I’m an inch shorter.

Of all the changes, that’s thrown me for a loop the most–I’ve been 5’11” with giant feet since I was 13. And it’s not that one inch or a shoe size is really that big a change, just that it changed at all.

I don’t like to think of myself becoming an entirely new person–though I know a lot of trans folk do, and that distinction is something they need. I wanted to think of this as just another step in who I am, like when I started wearing ties all the time. But when there’s physical changes like this, it’s clear that there’s more going on. I look different than I did a year ago. Not a lot, but it’s there. And the changes are only going to get more pronounced.

This is wonderful and exciting and…scary. It feels like one of those fairy tales where you find out the cost of getting your heart’s desire. I’ll finally be the “me” I always wanted to be, but I’ll have to figure out who she is.

And I suppose that should have been obvious, but it only hit me when these clear physical changes started happening. Blame it on being a visual learner, I guess.

I should add, that this level of change so quickly is not an average experience. In fact, I was mentally prepared for things to take a lot longer. Every body reacts to HRT differently. My body is either very comfortable with change–I used to put on muscle very quickly, too–or this is something my body has been wanting for a long time.

Either way, I’m ecstatic that these changes are happening, and I am looking forward to see where they lead.

Speaking of going through changes, there’s been two Frankenstein’s Support Group for Misunderstood Monsters since my last newsletter. Both of them focus on Ginger, a werewolf variation I’ve really been enjoying writing. Click on the tiles below for Chapter 2:

I really love this comic, and if you love it to, spread the word! The more people see the comic, the longer Quirk will have me do it!

We took Wednesday to Target the other day, and came face-to-face with the merchandising juggernaut that is Star Wars paraphernalia. While fans of anything that has “Star” in the title, our house is mostly free of LucasFilm merch, beyond the odd t-shirt, art book and my hand-crafted lightsabers. All that changed when our darling daughter came face to fuzzy face with a porg. Porgs, for those who don’t know, are little aliens indigenous to the planet Luke Skywalker has been hiding out on, and they are industrial-strength cute. Our daughter could not resist. She grabbed a stuffed plush porg off the shelf and didn’t let go.

This is a pretty mean feat, as Wednesday has just learned how to control the “let go” function of her hands. The porg’s desirableness overwhelmed her love of grabbing things only to drop them. The fact that she held onto it for any length of time is a tribute to the designers.

It also does these little chirping sounds when you squeeze it that make her giggle. So of course, we had to get one.
We’re doomed, aren’t we?

J.R. and I are clearing out a bunch of old costumes to make room for new ones, so take advantage of my desire to get these things out of the house and look as cool as I do this Halloween! Sizes are marked where they exist, but some of this stuff was made from scratch (I was 5’11” and around 225lbs in most of these pictures, if that helps).

Leave a comment or shoot me an email at freeplanetx at gmail if you see anything you like!

BATMAN

I love this suit, I’ve worn it a bunch, so it’s seen some wear and tear. Custom-made unnitard with built-in shoulder pads (slight discoloration around the neck),boots (sz 12, with repaired zippers), black underpants (sz L), the belt on the right, gloves (one with a stuck zipper, but can still be put on) both chest symbols and the cape (unlined and unhemmed at the bottom, with an attached spandex hood), all of that go for $100. You can get the cowl on the left, which is still as nice at the day I bought it, for $200. SOLD!

Shirt (spandex and pleather, fully lined, with velcro-attached shoulder armor) and gloves (with attached claws). One of the shoulder armor pieces has a crack, and the claws have been repaired multiple times (they are not, in fact, made of adamantium). $40 SOLD!

Oh, wow. Been awhile, hasn’t it? Here, lemme blow all the dust of this newsletter and we’ll see if she still works. Test the gears, pump the breaks, make sure the crystals are still in alignment, all that jazz.

How have you been?

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my new daughter, Wednesday. She’s pretty cool. You’d like her.

The Voice of Free Planet X returns to The Philadelphia Podcast Festival with a brand new live show! In an effort to bring an understanding from two sides of an intergalactic conflict, VFPX host Jared Axelrod invites Salamander Keep (Phil Thomas) and Loam Sodden (Andy Holman Hunter) to debate. But how can they when they keep getting interupted by time-traveler Tiff Tock (Lizzy Hindman-Harvey)? And why is the Devil himself, Lucifer, Who Is The Morningstar (Russell G Collins) hanging around in the audience?

From the ends of space to the depths of Hell, The Voice of Free Planet X brings you the universe to the comfort of your seats at Tattooed Mom! Featuring a live musical performance by Gina Martinelli!

A note about the audio: We had some wonderful mics provided for us by Bridge Set Sound, but I wrote an episode that had everyone running all all over the place. So, some parts were not picked up by the good mics, and I’ve edited in bits recorded by my handheld recorder that I had going just in case. I’ve tried to make the edits as unobtrusive as possible, but there is a difference in sound quality.

We had a great turn out–thank you, all who showed up–and PhillyPodFest continues to be the best. Can’t wait until next year!

Seeing as how I’ve been immersed in comics recently, I’ve been wondering if I could I get away with a superhero comic without fight scenes? Where it was all the stuff surrounding the fights, but when one started, it would cut to the end.

“Yay, the hero won! Now back to the interpersonal drama…”

See, Chris Morse got me thinking about Power Rangers, which got me thinking about my sweet, sweet ghost children Ressha Sentai ToQger. who proved that superhero story structure is a lot sturdier than we think, and a lot of parts can be removed & it will still stand up. Which then got me thinking on how much of a standard superhero story I could break. I realize there’s a lot of superhero comics and movies that do this, but they’re either parodies or stripped of all the genre’s glorious weirdness in favor of a more “grounded” approach.

The closest thing to what I’m thinking of is Hannah Blumenriech’s Spidey comics, but I’m not sure if that would work with a totally new character. Maybe it would? I dunno. I’ll stew on it.

Right now, though, I’ve got play with my baby and draw more Frankenstein stories!

Good luck with the dragon.

Jared Axelrod is an author, an illustrator, and a world changer. Through out her eventful life she has also been a circus performer, a puppeteer, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that she’s lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. But that “author’ business, that seems to be one she keeps coming back to.